


Arrangements

by spinninginfinity



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-09
Updated: 2015-09-09
Packaged: 2018-04-19 23:49:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4765586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spinninginfinity/pseuds/spinninginfinity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Near the end of her first pregnancy, Donna is a little restless.</p>
<p>
  <i>‘You drove three hours from Washington to Philadelphia while eight-and-a-half months pregnant to “pitch in”?’</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Arrangements

**Author's Note:**

> For a prompt on tumblr: "I think we need to talk."

‘Thank god you’re here,’ Donna says, sliding into Josh’s diner booth. ‘I’m starving.’

This is Josh’s fourth presidential campaign, and he’s more than used to being interrupted midway through meals, but this is the first time the interruption has been made by his heavily pregnant wife who’s meant to be at home three hours away.

He finishes chewing his mouthful of fries and swallows. ‘Did you track me here?’ he asks.

‘I put a doohickey in your phone, homed right in on you,’ she says, pinching a fry.

Josh looks down at his iPhone, momentarily distracted. ‘Can people do that? I hate this thing.’

‘No, dummy. I mean, probably, but I just went to the hotel and asked Martin where you were. I like him, he’s sweet.’

‘He’s so great,’ Josh says, making a mental note to check which one Martin is. ‘Listen—’

Donna, perusing the menu, cuts across him. ‘Oh my god, their Philly cheese steak sandwich sounds incredible. I mean, it would be, right? We are in Philly.’

‘Donna—’

She waves him off. ‘Yeah, I know what you’re going to say, and yeah, I’m not gonna get it, don’t worry, though I really think this once it’d be fine. But after I give birth you have to promise to take me out for the most obscene burger we can find, okay? I’m talking blue cheese, bacon… extra blue cheese… you know what I think I’d actually kill for right now, though? Fried pickles.’ She turns the menu over and clutches his arm in excitement. ‘They have them!’

‘And no murder necessary.’ Josh leans forward. ‘Donna. Seriously. Not that I’m not pleased to see you, but what are you doing here?’

She sighs. ‘Struggling between the grilled chicken salad and the turkey sandwich.’ She looks up at him. ‘Here in Philadelphia?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Oh, I just…’ She goes back to the menu. ‘You know. I came to pitch in.’

‘You drove three hours from Washington to Philadelphia while eight-and-a-half months pregnant to “pitch in”?’

‘No, I was temporarily un-pregnant.’

‘What if you’d gone into labor?’ he asks, trying very hard to stay calm.

‘On the drive up here?’

‘Yeah. Don’t look at me like it’s impossible, ’cause we both know it’s not. I’ve read all the same books you have.’

‘Josh.’ Donna rests a reassuring hand on his. ‘I felt fine. I still do. You don’t need to fuss over me.’

‘Nah, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna fuss over you,’ Josh says.

She’s prevented from answering by the arrival of the waiter, who offers his congratulations when he notices the swell of Donna’s stomach, and asks when she’s due.

‘Next month,’ Donna says, smiling. 

The waiter opens his notepad. ‘And have you and Baby decided what you’re having?’ he asks.

‘We will have a glass of orange juice, and the turkey sandwich with the side salad,’ Donna decides, ‘and I’m definitely not allowed a full plate of fried pickles, but do you think you could do just a small side I can pick at and then persuade him to finish for me?’ She nods toward Josh.

‘I’d think I can twist the chef’s arm,’ the waiter says, smiling as he jots down her order.

Donna claps her hand over her heart. ‘Oh, thank you so much! Honey,’ she says to Josh, ‘we had a good run, but I’m leaving you for this nice young man.’

‘Hey, who dealt with all your weird pregnancy cravings early on?’ Josh objects.

Perhaps in an attempt at appeasement, the waiter asks, ‘Anything else for you, sir?’

‘No, thanks,’ Josh says. He watches the waiter walk away, and waits until he’s fully out of earshot before turning to Donna. ‘We need to talk.’

‘I was kidding about leaving you,’ she assures him. ‘Apart from anything, that guy’s married.’ She wiggles her fingers at him. ‘Wedding ring. I noticed. Anyway, I was listening to the radio this morning, and I really think you need to clarify that whole thing with the president’s speech in Illinois last week. Seriously, hear me out,’ she says, holding up a hand when he tries to speak. ‘Sure, it’s only Bobby Edgeworth and that one completely certifiable Fox News anchor kicking up any real fuss right now, but they’ve got people asking questions and you know how it goes: this thing snowballs out of control and before you know it everyone’s certain the president wants to shut down Sunday schools in favor of teaching kids mandatory devil-worship, and that’s just not a thing you want to be dealing with this late in the game.’

‘Okay, can I just say something?’ Josh asks.

She’s silent for a moment, reaching out and picking up one of the pieces of paper he’s got spread out on the table in front of him. ‘Are you going to tell me I’m right about the devil-worship thing, or are you going to tell me off for driving up here?’

‘I’m not gonna—’ He frowns. ‘No, I’m not telling you off, c’mon. But we should probably talk about how you’re supposed to have cut back your hours so you can have more time to rest and relax before the baby gets here—and it’s still, by the way, less time to rest and relax than most normal people have while _not_ pregnant—and you can’t keep still for five minutes!’

‘Josh, I feel fine,’ she says, though he can tell he’s more on the money than her exasperated tone would suggest. ‘I had some thoughts; I wanted to share them. That’s all.’ Nodding at the paper, she asks, ‘Are you really thinking of moving money to Ohio right now?’

He ignores her attempt to change the subject. ‘It’s not just this, though. You’re still at the office almost as much as you were—’

‘There are how many secret service agents around the White House that can get me to George Washington in probably less time than it would take me to make it to the ground floor of our building? I’d _rather_ go into labor at the office!’

‘—and this isn’t the first time you’ve done this!’

‘When else did I do this?’ she demands.

‘Hagerstown, two weeks ago.’

‘Okay.’ She reaches for another of his now-cold fries, pointing it at him. ‘That drive is nothing.’

‘You can’t just—’ Josh breaks off as the waiter returns with Donna’s drink, then leans in, lowering his voice. ‘You can’t just hop in the car any time you think we should be doing something.’

‘Well, sure, not if you’re in, I don’t know.’ She swallows the fry and takes a sip of her juice. ‘Chicago, or something.’

He gapes at her. ‘Chicago?’ he repeats, incredulous. ‘That’s your cut-off point?’

‘I was just naming a place! Obviously I’m not going to drive to meet you any time you’re less than a ten-hour drive away.’

‘But three hours is okay?’

‘Clearly three hours is okay, or I wouldn’t have done it,’ she snaps. ‘But if it’s going to make you freak out, I won’t do it again.’

‘No, that’s—’ Josh sighs. ‘I mean, yes, I’d rather you weren’t driving up here by yourself when you’re gonna give birth any second, but I’m trying to understand. You couldn’t have just called if you wanted to tell me something?’

‘It’s not the same.’

‘As being on the campaign trail?’

‘Yeah.’

‘But I thought you wanted to take a step back? We talked about this and you said—’ He stops, closing his eyes briefly. ‘You said this was what you wanted.’

‘I do,’ she says quickly. ‘I—thought I did.’

He looks at her. She seems endlessly absorbed by the paper in front of her. ‘You thought you did or you thought you should?’ he asks.

‘I don’t know. Both.’ For a second he’s scared she’s going to start crying. But instead she bursts out, ‘I’m just—I’m so bored, Josh.’

‘Bored?’ he echoes, somehow astonished, even though now she’s said it it’s so mind-blowingly obvious he could kick himself.

‘I thought I could do it,’ Donna continues, ‘I did, and I know you’re right and Helen’s right and I'm exhausted and I should be cutting back my hours and giving some of my work to other people, but I hate not being involved and—’ She breaks off, taking a deep breath. ‘Also, what does anyone do with this amount of free time? I’ve done all the baby prep I possibly can, I try to read but I can’t focus because I keep thinking about work, and there’s only so much reality TV you can watch before you start feeling—you know, before you start feeling something really uncomfortably close to self-hatred.’

‘I could get you a boxset,’ Josh offers feebly.

She smiles. ‘You’re very sweet.’

‘Listen,’ he says. ‘We need to seriously rethink what we’re going to do when the baby actually arrives, because if this amount of being away from work is driving you up the wall, no way you can more-or-less stop working altogether.’

‘It’ll be totally different when she’s here.’

‘Not if you’re missing work this much.’

‘Well, maybe the baby will arrive and I’ll forget all about work,’ she reasons.

‘Yeah, well,’ he hears himself say, ‘maybe I would, too!’

‘You?’ 

Josh feels as stunned as Donna looks, but there’s a brief moment of something close enough to certainty— _he_ could _do this, though, couldn’t he?_ —and he nods firmly at her.

‘Yeah.’

‘Josh,’ she says, leaning in to look him directly in the eyes. ‘You. Workaholic chief of staff to the president, never wanted to do anything but this in your life, you? You’re saying you’d take a step back?’

‘I’m saying…’ He pauses, running a hand through his hair. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know, Donna. It’s an option we never discussed, and that was wrong of me, and I think we should. Discuss it.’

She shakes her head. ‘You’d be cutting your hours in the run-up to the election. I can’t ask you to do that.’

‘It’s not you asking, it’s me saying. It’s my kid too. This should be on the table. This doesn’t have to be your traditional, you know, mom gives up work the moment the kid shows up.’ Josh reaches out and squeezes her fingers. ‘And yeah, up until about four years ago maybe I didn’t want to do anything but this. A lot’s changed since then.’

Donna looks lost for words.

‘Listen, I’m not saying let’s make this decision right now in a diner in Philadelphia,’ Josh continues. ‘We’re due back in Washington tomorrow morning; we can talk about it more then. And it’s not just a case of you stepping back or me stepping back. I’m sure we can figure out something that works for both of us, and there’s nothing to stop us changing things up later if we want to. But please just… just be honest with me about what you want, okay?’

She nods. ‘Okay,’ she says, and turns her hand over to hold his properly. ‘I’m really glad I’m doing this with you.’

‘Me too.’ He smiles at her. ‘I am laying down one other ground rule, though. No more long drives until the baby gets here. You’re staying with me and I’m driving us home tomorrow, just so we’re clear. Lou’ll happily take my spot in the motorcade.’

‘Fine,’ she says. ‘I’m right about the Illinois thing, though.’

‘Yeah, you’re right about most things.’ He traces circles on her palm. ‘What was that about Ohio?’

She slides the paper she was looking at across the table so they can both see it and grins at him. ‘Aren’t you glad I came here?’

He nods. ‘Yes, I am.’

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Feedback much appreciated as always!


End file.
